FoldiMate is one of two machines designed to automatically fold laundry that may be available to consumers in the near future. FoldiMate, Inc. How would you like to have a machine fold your clean clothes for you? It could happen if laundry robots catch on — and, naturally, if you have several thousand dollars to become an early adapter. At least two companies plan to debut laundry-folding robots in the near future. The machines Laundroid and FoldiMate configure the dimensions of each piece of clothing, then fold it into its ideal shape before delivering a stack of expertly folded clothes. Both are the size of a large appliance, measuring roughly between an apartment-sized refrigerator and an oven. In the case of Laundroid, the robot's interior arms can grab, analyze and fold about 30 different articles of clean clothing and insert them into each of the four small drawers it contains. "The robot arm picks up the … [Read more...]

Not even Washington, D.C. is off limits to rising sea levels. Here a park bench sits in the waters of the Washington Channel during high tide in September 2016. Mark Wilson/Getty Images When a mass of ice the size of Delaware broke off in Antarctica the second week of July 2017, scientists weren't overly concerned that the 1 trillion tons (907 billion metric tons) of ice — the largest ever recorded — would cause an immediate rise in sea level as it melted. However, they were disturbed that the 2,240-square-mile (5,801-square-kilometer) iceberg was symptomatic of a larger problem: the future collapse of the entire ice shelf known as Larsen C. If it melted right away, scientists said, it would cause the oceans to rise almost a half inch (1.2 centimeters). A collapse of Larsen C is probably decades away, but instances like this are the exact reason why scientists have always kept a close eye on rising sea levels, especially in … [Read more...]

People in traditional outfits hold hands between dances at the annual Festa Confederada, or Confederate Party, on April 24, 2016, in Santa Barbara d'Oeste, Brazil. Mario Tama/Getty Images If you were traveling the world and wanted a taste of America without trekking back to the States, where should you go? That's what Will Pearson and Mangesh (Mango) Hattikudur discuss in an episode of Part-Time Genius called "What's the Most American Place in the World? (Outside the States, that is)." One contender for this prize might be the various Disneyland theme parks around the globe. A 2016 study conducted by Branding Magazine, asked 4,750 Americans which of 248 brands best personified the patriotism of the U.S. "Ninety-eight percent associated the Disney brand with U.S. patriotism," says Will. But for a truly unusual taste of America outside U.S. soil, head for Americana, Brazil. The city of about 230,000 people … [Read more...]

A preserved specimen of the bottom-dwelling sea spider genus Ammothea. Mark Conlon/Getty Images The heart is a pretty important organ. That's true not only for us humans, but also for the seemingly endless array of other creatures and critters that roam the planet. The human heart pumps blood to the rest of our bodies through a network of arteries, veins and capillaries. It's also an essential part of one of the more important functions of the human body: breathing. When we breathe in air, blood pumped to the lungs by the heart picks up oxygen to transport that vital element to the rest of our bodies. When we breathe out, we expel harmful carbon dioxide — caused by a buildup of internal waste — that has been brought up to the lungs via blood pumping from the heart. Biologist Art Woods holds an Antarctic sea spider specimen in his University of Montana … [Read more...]

Some researchers believe that the icy landscape of Europa, Jupiter's moon depicted in this illustration, may be partially composed of ice VII. Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images In Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 novel "Cat's Cradle," there's a fictional substance known as ice-nine. A special type of water imagined by the science-fiction author, ice-nine not only has the ability to remain solid at room temperature, but also can alter ordinary water molecules to form a solid as well. Through an instance of human stupidity, ice-nine spreads across Earth, killing off just about all life on the planet. Ice-nine doesn't exist, fortunately. But besides ice, liquid water and steam — the three phases of water that we're familiar with — there actually are a lot of other forms. These less commonly known iterations include numerous frozen versions, with crystals forming odd geometric shapes at low temperatures and/or high pressures. One … [Read more...]

Pooh Bear does look rather presidential, doesn't he? Matt Cardy/MJ Kim/Getty Images When you think "enemy of the people," who do you see in your mind's eye? Someone evil, no doubt — a nefarious villain bent on world destruction. A tricky, slippery traitor ready to corrupt the country at any cost. A willy, nilly, silly old bear. OK, probably not. But the fact that Chinese censors have begun to block Winnie the Pooh on Chinese social media sites might lead you to believe that the honey-obsessed bear is less innocent than he seems. Is masquerading as a Little Black Rain Cloud an attempt at deep surveillance? Perhaps. But if so, that's not China's problem with Pooh. Instead, Chinese censors are more concerned that some citizens have been sharing memes that poke fun at Chinese President Xi Jinping by comparing the slightly rotund world leader with a chubby little tubby all stuffed with fluff. From … [Read more...]

A Bigfoot crossing sign on Pike's Peak Road in Colorado warns drivers of the potential for Bigfoot sightings in the area. flickr.com/Jimmy Emerson, DVM. Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch, Yeti or Wood Booger, is one of the most beloved myths in North America. Stories of a hairy, apelike hominid span countless cultures, through Europe, many Native American tribes, Australia and more. Scientists continue to argue over whether the Sasquatch is real, comparing numerous sightings with a lack of physical evidence and pointing to the number of hoaxes perpetrated around the legend. Now the guys at Stuff They Don't Want You To Know join the debate. Matt Frederick, Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown chat with David Bakara, the founder of Expedition: Bigfoot museum in Blue Ridge, Georgia, about the Search for Bigfoot in this episode of the podcast. Bakara spent decades as a Bigfoot researcher with the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO). He left BFRO to … [Read more...]

Spider silk has special properties that help spiders stay steady when they descend on their threads. _jure/iStock/Thinkstock Imagine a spider plunging in front of your face. First, don't be alarmed — it's all in your head, remember. What do you see? Probably a spider that drops confidently in a straight line, without so much as a twist. But if you tie a little weight to the end of, say, string or dental floss, the weight will spin wildly. So, what's so special about spider silk that allows spiders to stay relatively straight while rappelling? According to new research out of China and the U.K. and published in Applied Physics Letters, spiders' draglines — the silk strands they lower themselves on — yield a bit when twisted. The silvery threads dissipate energy, which slows the oscillations you would expect from human hair, thin wires or carbon fiber (other materials the researchers tested). That way the spider can plummet … [Read more...]

A smart home device -- like Amazon's Echo, pictured here -- can't call the cops. But that could soon change. Joby Sessions/T3 Magazine via Getty Images Police in New Mexico said they recently received a life-saving 911 call from an unexpected source — a smart home device. According to ABC News, an armed man, threatening to kill his girlfriend, asked, "Did you call the sheriffs?" A nearby voice-activated device (Amazon's Echo, which has a virtual assistant named Alexa) mistook the question as a command and called 911, prompting a concerned dispatcher to send over the cops. The girlfriend and her daughter escaped physically unharmed and the man was arrested after an hours-long standoff with police. "The unexpected use of this new technology to contact emergency services has possibly helped save a life," said Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III, in a statement to ABC News. Later reports … [Read more...]

A Christian church located on the shore of Dushu Lake, near Suzhou, China. Kaicheng Xu/Getty Images The people of China are rediscovering their religion — and possibly a new age of Chinese environmentalism as well. As Javier C. Hernández examines in the New York Times, hundreds of millions of Chinese have taken to religion in recent years — including the traditional paths of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism as well as monotheistic imports like Christianity and Islam. While the People's Republic of China instituted a policy of state atheism at its founding in 1949, it relaxed its policies in the 1970s, eventually allowing (ostensibly) free practice of religion in 1978. It hasn't been entirely smooth sailing since then — just ask followers of the Falun Gong religious movement — but modern Chinese have found both opportunity and permission to explore religious ways of life in the 21st century. … [Read more...]